THE LARK. 265 



When kept in confinement, the pipe of the lark 

 becomes harsh and piercing ; it is only when winging 

 its flight, by way of encouragement to the female, in 

 the free native air, that it possesses that bounding 

 and elastic sweetness on which poets delight to expa- 

 tiate. It is a note of confidence and security, to 

 assure his mate that no danger threatens, and that 

 he is near her, to participate and to soften her cares. 

 This diminutive species have much courage ; they are 

 often, when contending for the female, formidable to 

 each other ; but their genial desires past, they relapse 

 into timidity, or show their bravery in a different and 

 more amicable manner. We have ourselves often 

 witnessed a struggle for victory in song between two 

 of these birds ; and, indeed, with most of the thrush 

 and sparrow kind, there seems to exist a love of har- 

 mony distinct from the note of blandishment or call 

 of desire. Let a harp be placed on a lawn, and 

 played upon, and it shall prove the decoy of a num- 

 ber of grove songsters ; each little throat shall con- 

 tend with its music. A lady of our acquaintance 

 assured us that she had often been compelled to quit 

 her instrument from the noise made in rivalry by 

 these birds, who would perch on the lower branches 

 around her during their noisy efforts. The different 

 larks may be divided into the sky-lark, the wood, and 

 the titlark ; they are known from other small species 

 by the length of their heel or spur. They build their 

 nests upon the ground, thinking that sods of turf can 

 shelter and conceal them, and choosing every soil in 



